Scope targeting/ID issue + Ship w/ no flag?
 

I currently have the game paused right now, and minimized until I can sort this out. It's September 2nd '39, and I have 2 ships in my vicinity a couple hundred klicks north of Kiel.
Ok, everyone knows that if you line up the crosshairs with the UZO/Periscopes, a colored triangle is supposed to appear either above or below the cross, right? Well, lately the targeting has not been working at all. I cover the ship all over the place with the crosshairs, but nothing happens. No triangles, no ID on the notepad, nothing. It's getting frustrating.
It worked when I first spotted the Danish tugboat, but then it just "turned off" even though I kept the crosshairs right on it. That's the first issue.
Second, there is another ship that I cannot ID at all, because it has no flags...and since I can't upload images here (tried it already w/ jpegs) I'll try to describe it. It has 2 "lighthouse"-looking masts on it, shining brightly. Its hull color is very odd, like a rosy hue (the sun is not setting/rising). And it has no flag. Is this a ghost-ship bug?
Any help with why the targeting/ID system is not working will be appreciated, and of course if anyone knows what kind of ship this is. Thanks all!

The glowing triangle is an unrealistic targeting aid. At certain reality levels, it goes away. If you install mods, they may disable it also. Have you installed any mods?

The "ship" you are describing is an "environment" item - it is a lightship. Think of it as a portable lighthouse. Word they are very difficult to destroy, if at all.

Since it worked at least once, it is obvious that you didn't select by error manual targetting in the options menu. So my guess is that your crew is actually not seeing those ships. You can only lock on what your crew sees, so if there is fog, night or rain your crew might actually not be seeing what you can (crew sensors are mostly independent from what is rendered on screen, and balancing those two things is an art which in any case never ever reaches perfection). Get closer and check again if they are seen, also ask your IWO for the bearing and range to closest target, so you can confirm if he sees them.

IIRC that is the lighthouse ship in GWX and WAC, it existed in several harbours in real life and is not a target you have to identify. It's just a reference for navigation.

Thanks, yes that seemed to do the trick. The lighthouse boat wasn't being ID'd, so that threw me off a bit. I surfaced and the tugboat was ID'd again.

Yes, as they said, the triangle only appears if your crew can detect it, and if you are playing with a realism that allows it. As I just started playing, I am using it, and have noticed that if your crew cant detect it then you can 'lock' onto it and your crew will often be able to detect it as if you told them where it was.
The lightships are the equivalent of modern bouys, theyve been around for about 200 years before WWII begun, and were quickly fazed out after, in preference to unmanned beacons like said bouys.

I've had similar problems with the targeting thingy. I find that if I line up the crosshair and then press L the coloured triangle comes back.

Right. This is because you can actually "lock" targets that are invisible on the periscope. I have locked targets 15km away before. The lock only lasts for a couple of seconds though.